


A Hole in Time

by yellowbound



Series: One Man for the Galaxy [2]
Category: Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016), Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-27
Updated: 2017-02-27
Packaged: 2018-09-27 04:34:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,868
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9964982
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yellowbound/pseuds/yellowbound
Summary: Jyn finds a moment to thank Rey for helping to rescue Cassian.





	

**Author's Note:**

> This is a follow-up to 'One Man for the Galaxy'. It might be helpful to read that first, though I think I've included enough info that you don't have to.

Afterwards, in a quiet moment, or as quiet as things ever can be when there’s First Order plots to be foiled and Kylo Ren imprisoned on the ship and BB-8, C3PO and R2-D2 having an argument, Jyn found time to properly thank Rey for helping rescue Cassian.

Or, well, she tried to properly thank Rey, but being Jyn, she really didn’t know how to go about doing it. “Thank you” didn’t really seem adequate, and it didn’t help that most of Rey’s experiences were with scavengers who ignored her or a depressed Jedi who refused to help her. 

Rey’s favorite pass time was tinkering around the Millennium Falcon, which is what she was doing when Jyn located her and tried to communicate her feelings.

“Can you hand me the aux power converter?” Rey asked, from under a panel, one hand holding in place a dodgy-looking wire.

Jyn had passed it to her after three unsuccessful tries with tools that turned out not to be what Rey was asking for.

Dodgy wire momentarily shoved into a better position, Rey extracted herself from behind the panel. Wiping the grease off her hands with a nearby towel, Rey smiled her disarming smile at Jyn, which the shorter woman returned somewhat more hesitantly. “I just wanted to-”

Before Jyn could finish, the dodgy wire dislodged from where Rey had stuck it, sending a large circuit board crashing to the floor. A small fire started. Rey swore while Jyn, suppressing a grin, went and got her a fire extinguisher, many of which were near the Falcon.

Crisis dealt with for the moment, Rey gave Jyn a heartfelt “Thank you.”

“That’s what I was coming to say to you.”

“I know,” Rey said. She reached for Jyn’s hand. Jyn clasped it, grateful. She remembered Baze, and how meaningful a hand grabbed in support could be.

Rey wasn’t used to being so near Jyn and after a moment something caught her eye. “Is that a kyber crystal?” Rey asked, making a motion towards Jyn’s neck.

Jyn’s hand went automatically to her necklace. “It is.”

“May I-” Rey gestured toward the necklace, fascinated.

Jyn understood this hesitant, incomplete request. She took the necklace off, unsnapping the chain, and handing it to Rey. Rey looked it over intently. “Is it from a lightsaber?”

Jyn frowned. She had never thought about the origins of the crystal. Though if it had been from a lightsaber, she hoped the person who lost it didn’t mind her wearing it. Or if it was a sith lord, she hoped they really did mind. “I don’t know.”

Rey looked up from studying the crystal. “Where did you get it?”

“Cassian.”

Rey’s eyes widened. She quickly extended her hand with the necklace back towards Jyn. “Sorry, I-”

“No, Rey, it’s alright. I like wearing it, and I’d be sad if I lost it, but as long as I don’t lose him, I’m okay.” She gently took it from Rey. “He got it for me to replace the one my mother gave me.”

“What happened to it?”

Jyn sighed at the memory as she replaced the necklace. “I used it as an energy source for our stasis units after Scarif when we were stranded. I was hoping it would last four months.”

“That’s how you survived.”

“Yes.”

Rey reached out to touch the crystal that hung at Jyn’s neck. It was an intimate gesture for two people who didn’t really know each other, but Rey didn’t have enough human contact to know differently, and while there had once been a time and place where Jyn would’ve cared, this wasn’t it.

Her hand still on the crystal, Rey’s eyes shifted towards Jyn’s. “She’s happy you’re wearing it.”

Jyn blinked, confused. “What?”

“The Jedi who’s lightsaber the crystal powered. She’s happy you have it.”

Jyn starred. “Thanks,” she managed, somewhat breathless and barely audible. Jyn sort of felt like she had been punched in the gut.

Rey smiled. “You’re welcome.” She returned to the Falcon, picking up a wedge and proceeding to make a lot of noise while banging things and cursing.

Jyn watched her for a moment before leaving Rey to it, her hand playing with the crystal.

She didn’t really pay attention to where she was going but she wasn’t surprised that she ended up where Cassian was, going over the latest intelligence reports. The man actually found reading them comforting. For all the details that changed, many other things remained the same. They reminded him of how familiar the galaxy still was, despite thirty four years passing by without him experiencing them. “What’s wrong?” he asked.

“Nothing,” Jyn said, with a brief shake of her head as she settled in next to him. “I had a talk with Rey.” Her hand still hadn’t left the crystal.

“Ah,” said Cassian, gently bumping his shoulder against hers.

Jyn laid her head on his shoulder. “She asked about the necklace.” Cassian laid his cheek on her hair. He was thinking about what had happened to her last necklace. He knew she was, as well.

He remembered waking up after passing out for the second time. Jyn had been pissed at him. He hadn’t told her he was having problems, and to make it perfectly clear how unacceptable Jyn had found his lack of communication, she had taken her mother’s necklace out from under her shirt and shown it to him. “When I was ten, my mom put this necklace around my neck, and then she went and got herself killed. My father went with her killer, leaving me behind. When I was sixteen, Saw abandoned me. For his safety, for the safety of his little band. You don’t get to leave me.”

“When have I ever left you?” He had gotten pissed, too – he didn’t like how she was comparing him to people who had abandoned her. That wasn’t fair.

“When the shuttle had settled, and I turned to look at you, you were passed out.”

“I couldn’t help that! I didn’t leave-“

“Did you feel like you were going to pass out?”

Cassian swallowed. He had, actually, and she didn’t need any more of a response than she had already gotten to know it. But they were trying to land a damaged shuttle in a snowstorm – did she really expect him to say something in that moment?

Jyn moved back a bit and crossed her arms. Yes, apparently she did.

“It wasn’t a good time to say anything,” he responded, but he already knew she wasn’t going to like the answer. He had to say something, though.

While he was thinking about upsetting Jyn, Jyn was thinking about how the kyber crystal had been the ‘something else’. A something else that was necessary because Jyn had nearly gotten herself killed trying to fix the ship. Outside, in winter weather with not enough warm clothing for too long. She had been desperate to get off the planet, Cassian needed advanced medical facilities, and he needed them yesterday. The only way to get off the planet meant fixing the severally damaged Imperial transport they had arrived on. Which she couldn’t do from inside the ship.

While the transport had food and medical supplies and places to sleep and clothing, it didn’t have adequate outerwear for the winter they found themselves in. Jyn had wrapped various articles of clothing around herself in makeshift layers, hoping it would be enough to get her through.

It should have been enough to get her through. Only instead of coming inside to warm up and then go back out again, like a sane person, Jyn had stayed out too long. She had still been moving when Cassian found her, but not as fast as she should have been. Too injured to carry her, he had dragged her back inside, Jyn stumbling along behind him.

As soon as the doors had closed behind them and the surrounding air started to get warmer, Cassian had stripped off his clothing as fast as he could, ignoring the pain his various injuries were causing him. He had then forced Jyn to take off her clothing, and had been alarmed at how little resistance he had faced. He had wrapped himself around her, sharing body heat, and buried them both in blankets.

Jyn woke warm and safe in Cassian's arms. The feeling of his hands moving along her body, lingered as she lay quietly, listening to him breathing. He was still asleep.

Jyn pulled away slightly, so she could look at his face. She was startled to see the tear tracks that ran down his cheeks, and even more startled to realize they were still there because he had been unwilling to let her go to wipe them away.

She was not used to feeling guilty. She'd only had herself to look after for years and even before that Saw did not encourage the type of decision making that would lean towards guilt. She shouldn't have stayed out in the cold so long, forcing Cassian, who should not be moving very much, to come and get her.

She really shouldn't have scared him like she did.

Gently, she wiped at his cheeks, her hand shaking slightly as she did. He moved in response to her touch and she let him press his face into her palm as she ran her thumb lightly over his cheek.

He opened his eyes to look at her, relief mixing with a warm smile. She smiled back just as fondly.

"I'm sorry," he said softly, the smile fading.

Jyn was confused. First off, that's what she should be saying to him. Secondly, what did he have to be sorry for? "For what?" Her hand was still resting gently on his cheek.

"For taking off your clothes without permission. I was just-"

"Hey," she said, gently but firmly. "I know. Thank you." His eyes were searching her face. He said fiercely, "Don't do that again."

"To fix the ship I need to go outside."

"We'll think of something else." When she opened her mouth to argue, he added, "Jyn, please."

Jyn swallowed. The pain and desperation in his voice was very real and very raw. She placed her hand over his heart, pressing her fingers in a random pattern on his chest. "Okay. We'll think of something else."

He placed his hand over hers on his chest. Jyn could tell he was struggling to not get upset. 

The “something else” had turned out to be using her kyber crystal necklace to power the stasis units they had discovered on the transport. They were both worried the faulty ship’s power systems wouldn’t last the four months they needed them to.

Cassian had been the one to find the article about how kyber crystals work. The article that was written by her father.

*

On Leia’s flagship, that Galen Erso had helped them reach alive, Cassian reached up to cover Jyn’s hand with his own. “Rey said the Jedi the crystal belonged to didn’t mind me wearing it.”

Cassian didn’t say anything in response. He slipped a finger through Jyn’s, touching the crystal. Grateful, for a moment, just to be alive, Jyn’s familiar warmth next to him.

**Author's Note:**

> I am gretamaya on tumblr - feel free to come say hi!


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